Monthly Archives: February 2014

UNUSUALLY USUAL

A life a little unusual.My life actually.I wish I could say my childhood was more than ordinary, but it was just that. Was I ordinary? Absolutely not! I’ll never be just that. It is possible to say that it wasn’t a Beaver Clever series; it wasn’t boring or entirely predictable, ok, so that’s alright too.The details aren’t important, it is the past after all and it doesn’t exist anymore.That delights me sometimes…What evolves from your past, YOU , is the important thingabout your past.

Daydreamer Extrordinaire!

I see everything around me and I invent that which I don’t. It’s a curse and a blessing and whether I liked it or not, life shoved me in the mirror and said “now you’ll see yourself, so open your eyes”. Love, the catalyst for creation, the explosive creative sparks, with a Capital L (It’s a proper noun in my world) pushed me.I’m a dreamer and an artist, but not for one second do I believe another person makes you be anything. There is no muse, but that’s another story. I arrived at that mirror kicking and screaming.Lesson? I AM someone, I WAS going to be thrown out into the world – a nomad with no home. My roots would grow sideways, not down. The clock is ticking. Time to go. Time to be…

Houston 1997

To be truthful, it was insane, but the excitement of not having a clue what I was doing or what would become of me was thrilling. I was so overwhelmed with joy that I vomited for a week in Houston. Overwhelming Joy/sustained terror; not much difference according to my body. Both produce the same reflex, stomach purge.Chris would leave every morning for work and I’d heave my breakfast up. AH!! The start of a blissful life together forever paired with the smell of half digested bacon and eggs and whatever else hung around from the night before. Now what do I do with myself? First month down. WOOP. All the pleasantries were done and I met some lovely people, and dreadful ones (there’s no other word to describe these poor souls, sorry), but with no work visa where did I belong if it wasn’t at work? The mirror spoke when I glanced in it; “find yourself”. Not wanting to give in to that bully, I got in the car and drove to every museum I could find. No small feat as I had no idea where I was at any point beyond 50m past our complex’s gates. Duty calls as a momma, and I must end my story here.Let me tell you this: Fear became my friend during my early years travelling, and probably still is now. I didn’t know that my life would never be that which I grew up with, or that which anyone in my small (and I mean small like amigurumi at it’s best), close circle of family and friends would know how to relate to, except for a couple of insane ones like me. Fear is the only friend that never betrays me. I like it in a strange way because I know I’m still alive and KICKING! :)) It’s the kick inside!I’ll leave you with this photo of the first cardigan I ever knitted and beanie, the latter was what I thought to be an original by me, sadly I found a pattern for this very design a year later! It even had the same title I gave it – the accordion hat! LOL Got to laugh!! We may think we are original, but…..

So this is my latest project. It will be for a new baby in the family. It’s the leg of a bunny. Clearly it’s a girl! I need a chunky yarn, but didn’t have the funds or the desire to go to the shop, again. So I used my lovely cotton blend yarn and doubled up!

However!! This isn’t a post all about the joy of bunny knitting, although it is therapeutic to feel the cotton glide across my hands and go around and around and watch it grow. I reflected on the leg I made and like everything else in my life, I was bombarded with visions of the past, present and future and how strenuously my legs have supported me and carried me on my adventures. I live a non-ordinary life. It’s not apparent to anyone what kind of life I live, but it’s here I’ll write, and blend my life’s unusual story with my love of art and creativity.

I never knew I was creative, honestly. The thing about not knowing is just that, you don’t know a thing until you do. When I was very young I liked drawing, painting, writing, doodling, and crafts of many kinds, but seeing myself as an artist was never a part of who I believed I was. That’s youth I guess….not knowing yourself or trusting yourself. That all changed when I was 26 years old; I lived for 3 lovely, and not so lovely months in the City of Lights and Lovers – Paris!

Like every other time I got creative in my past, I discovered my artistic abilities through sheer boredom. The force that drives curiosity led me to my core; that of an artist bursting to tell a story using whatever medium I choose. Unfortunately, I was poor and the only medium I could afford was pencils! Boring graphite!! I bought 3 pencils, 2B, 4B, and HB with a cheap A2 sketch pad, possibly meant for children, but I put my faith in the word “etudiant” meaning adult student and not school children. I’m still not entirely sure that it means adult student, but I still have the original sketch pad that launched a 18 year obsession with art that still consumes me today. Suddenly I felt free again and feeling the pencils in my hand and the pad under my arm, well, I just knew I was on a journey towards me.

Be as free…..So this is the most recent thing going through my mind and just as I get ready to post Louis wakes from his sleep. Let me hold this thought in my mind and in yours and I’ll return to write soon, I hope :

I decided it was time to write about what I love to do and who I am. It’s what will make me happy and it’s a burning desire to tell a story. I love to write, paint, draw, knit and crochet. I dream of running a center where I can display my work and write my stories. My greatest fear is that I will fail. In my life now it’s difficult to find the time to do it the way I would like to, but I want to try. I will write my story “My Watercolor Life” and a children’s story “The Inventor Mice”. I will write them here and display my creations too. Perhaps someday my dreams will be my reality. However, right now I’m up to my eyes in toddler life and teenage angst. That’s a whole other story that I may write about too. I’ll do my best to make this my dream site where I express my love of art and literature. I’ve been known as Arby and I’ve signed art as RMB. I’ll use Arby as my pen name and RMB as my artist name. I think you’ll notice the connection if you think about it. So give me a few weeks to get this site up and running and then please let me know what you think. I’ll also be inviting my Knitting ladies to participate and to book our knitting meetings here too. I’ll be posting our creations and we’ll be writing a knitting book together. So there’s lots to come and I hope that it’s interesting and inspiring !